Fired
by Ice Princess Xia
Summary: “It was just an accident…or two…or three…”   A silly Taito. Oneshot.


Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any characters associated with it. I just love them.

Author Note: Yay! Two new Digimon stories in two days. This was just another small idea that I had started but never quite finished. So I thought I would finish and post it now.

Warnings: Yaoi, like one curse word, flirty gay men.

Enjoy!

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Fired

Matt's POV

Today was the day that I would be fired.

Still, here I was putting on my uniform with pride and dignity. You see, it wasn't actually my fault that I would be fired but still my responsibility nonetheless. Up until today, I was a hair stylist at this fancy salon down the street from my apartment and I absolutely loved it. I figured that after years of perfecting and styling my own hair, why not try to style the hair of other people. After completing my classes, I passed with flying colors, literally, and eventually ended up in the salon. My boss, Devon, was just a regular stylist when I came to work there; he absolutely adores me and now that he's the head stylist, he suggests me to all of his best customers. He trusts and respects me a lot but I guess after yesterday's events that would all change.

I put the final touch on my own hair before exiting my bathroom and taking a glance around my apartment. I found a note in the kitchen and I knew that Tai had left early for work on purpose; I can't say I blame him though. I wasn't exactly in the best of moods last night. I grabbed my keys and put on my shoes before exiting my apartment and heading for the salon. I stopped about halfway for a cup of coffee and felt myself wake up a little more. As I continued on probably my final walk to the salon, my thoughts wandered back to the happenings of yesterday.

-------------------------------Flashback---------------------------------

I opened the salon doors dramatically and stepped inside with a laugh. Devon looked to me with a grin and I merely bowed.

"I have arrived and am at your service, oh mighty head stylist." Knowing that today was going to be a hard day, I tried to get Devon to smile. Looking to him, I saw that I had succeeded but I could tell he still had something to tell me. "I know, I know. Today's the day."

One day of every month, the owner of the salon, Jean Pierre François, would come to the salon for a haircut. Just as an introduction, this guy was tall, thin and had basically a tree trunk shoved where the sun don't shine. He was so snobby we could swear his nose was getting longer from him shoving it up in the air so much! He was demanding, egotistical and downright mean but we knew that we had to put up with it because he was the owner. He demanded that he have his haircut by the head stylist only but by the look on Devon's face, I suspected he wasn't going to be able to do it this month.

"All right, what is it?" Devon tried to butter me up before he dropped the bomb.

"Matt, you know that you're the only person I would entrust the entire salon to, right? Well…here's the thing. You know today's a big day but unfortunately, my niece is sick and I'm the only person that could even possibly baby-sit. It's only for a few hours so I should be back in time before you-know-who arrives but I just need you to handle everything until then." Devon looked to me pleadingly and I could've laughed at the pout on his face. I really didn't want to be in charge for the day but as long as I didn't have to deal with Jean Pierre I guess it wouldn't be too bad.

"Devon, no worries. I'll watch the salon while you're gone. But you know you have to get here before you-know-who; he won't accept anyone but you to cut his hair." He put his arms up to stop anymore of my ranting.

"I know, I know. I should be back before then, but Matt. There is one more thing." I began to put on my black apron and looked to him.

"What is it?"

"Well," he stopped and made a face. "We're actually a little short staffed today." I shrugged at him, not understanding what the big deal was.

"That shouldn't be a problem, it hasn't before. So who's working?"

"Well, once I leave…you." This was when I turned on him.

"Just me?" He nodded to me and grimaced waiting for me to yell at him but I only sighed. "Thanks for the warning I guess…but how am I going to take care of ALL of the customers?"

"Well, I checked the schedule and there aren't very many appointments for today. There's about an hour where there are a few bunched together but nothing you can't handle." I sighed again and nodded to him.

"Okay, that doesn't sound bad but I swear Devon, if things start going crazy in here I'm calling you and yelling." While grabbing his stuff, Devon winked at me.

"Hey, at least that means you've got my number." He rushed out of the salon giggling like a school girl and I only rolled my eyes after him. We both had boyfriends but ridiculously gay men will always naturally be flirtatious I guess. Sighing to myself, I looked around the empty salon before checking the schedule to see how long I had until people started showing up.

-------------------

"There's only about an hour where it'll be bunched…Liar." I was fuming. Twenty minutes after Devon had left, people started showing up for their appointments. At first, it was just one very talkative woman but about halfway through her trim, another walked in followed by another…and another. I was just apologizing to the fourth appointment when the fifth walked in and I sighed heavily.

"I'm going to need more than one station open…" After apologizing again to everyone and asking them to sit down, I ran across the salon and prepped two more stations. Once those were ready, I called the first two people on the list; it just happened that they were sisters so hopefully they could chit chat while they waited.

"Hello ladies, please sit. Again, I apologize for the wait and it will be a little while longer but well, these seats are more comfortable than the ones in the waiting area. So, take your time deciding on your hair cuts and I will be right back." I slid across the salon floor and ended up behind my first customer.

"Sorry about that, now let's dry your hair."

"On, no worries hon, you just do your thing with my hair. I'm sure that all of these people are willing to wait if you'll be styling their hair." I grinned and felt myself blush; usually when Devon was around, I could play these sorts of comments off and put them on him. However, I guess without him around, I am the best stylist in the salon…and also one that needs to hurry up. I dried the woman's hair as quickly and best as I could before swiping her credit card and ushering her out the door. I jogged back to the two ladies I had left.

"Okay ladies, what will we be doing today?" I was hoping for something extremely simple but then again we're not exactly the 'simple' kind of salon. They described to me what they wanted and I nodded, committing it to memory, and led them over to the sinks to wash their hair. As they began seating themselves, I turned around to see how I was managing.

'Two customers at the wash, three in the waiting area…now, I've got another station open back here that I could seat someone at…wait, I have to clean it first…crap. And I need to check in that customer that just came in. Man, there's not even a receptionist working today!'

As if to dig the hole deeper, I clenched my fists tighter upon hearing the door open again. Sighing deeply and putting on my happy face, I grabbed my clipboard and walked over to the waiting area.

"Oh, thank god." He wasn't even aware in the slightest of how happy I was to see him even though I didn't know why he had come in the first place; it was his day off after all. Last I had seen him was sprawled across our bed half-naked, a pleasant sight indeed.

"Uh, hey Yama." Tai smiled at me but also eyed me suspiciously at seeing my overly relieved demeanor. I pulled him away from the waiting area and into a hug for a moment before speaking again.

"Tai, I thought you were another customer. I was going to shoot myself."

"Why? What's going on?"

"I'm here all by myself and it is insanity. I've got two customers waiting for their hair to be washed and all those people waiting to even get back here. I don't know what I'm going to do. By the way, what are you even doing here? It's your day off, you should be sleeping." Putting his hard head to good use, Tai had gotten a job in construction and it took a lot out of him so on his days off he usually just slept or rested all day.

"Calm down Yama. I came down here to visit with you but now I'm going to help you out. Now, what can I do?"

"Really Tai-chan?" I smiled and he did the same.

"Of course Yama-chan. I mean, I don't know how helpful I'll be but I won't just leave you hanging." I pulled him in for a short kiss before taking a deep breath and giving the orders.

"You're a lifesaver. All right. First, go into the waiting room and get everyone to write their names down in the order that they got here. Keep your eyes open for new customers too. Then, come back here and sweep up my station. In a few, I'll tell you to bring the first person on the list back here." He nodded to me before doing as he was told and I stared after him for moment.

"God I love him…" I came back down from my daydreams when I heard the sisters conversing behind me. I ran back to them, embarrassed.

"I am so sorry ladies. I'm literally the only person working today." After they told me it was no problem, I commenced with washing their hair. As I finished, I saw Tai sweeping up my station and smiled to myself again. We had been together for five years now and it was absolute heaven; not a boring day passed in our lives. We hardly fought, we were financially settled and we were both healthy and in great shape, especially Tai. With his job he pretty much had to be buff and honestly, what kind of a person would I be to not enjoy it? Unfortunately, as I stared after Tai, I didn't realize that I was about to point the hose from the sink at one of the sisters' shoulder. I was only awoken from my trance as she yelled out in alarm.

"You're not washing my shoulder! Now my shirt's all wet!"

"I am so sorry ma'am." I really didn't know what to do about it and I sighed in relief when she shrugged it off.

"It's not a big deal I guess. I'll just buy a new shirt." I still felt bad though so, with a smirk, I sweetened the deal.

"Well, how about I give you two a 'buy one, get one free' special? You are sisters after all."

"Wow, are you serious? You don't have to; it's not a big deal."

"No, no. It was my fault; the least I can do is save you some money so you can get that new shirt of yours. Just don't tell my other customers." I winked at the two and they giggled, thanking me for the deal. Sighing again in relief, I finished washing both of their hair and led them back to their chairs. Tai was looking at me expectantly because he had already cleaned up my station. Looking frazzled, I'm sure, I nodded over to Tai and he immediately went to retrieve the next customer. I turned back to the sisters.

"Okay, so who wants to go first?" After a moment of decision, I began cutting the seemingly younger sister's hair. I checked with her to make sure I had her style right; chin-length with long layers, and then began to cut. I heard as Tai asked the customer to be patient and as another customer proceeded to enter the salon but I focused mainly on the hair in front of me. The only time I was distracted was when I heard something crash to the floor. Pausing completely in my cutting, because god only knows if I did not pull the scissors away from that girl's hair then I would've cut something out of sheer anger, I looked in the general direction of the noise. Tai looked at me innocently as I observed the very fancy, very expensive standing lamp that he had just tipped over and broken on the floor. To be honest, I sighed in relief that it was only a lamp. Quickly, I motioned for Tai to just sweep the broken glass and instantly I was cutting again.

After an eternity, I finished cutting the first sister's hair and moved on to give the second sister a trim and some more defined bangs. It seemed easy enough but with four other people just watching and waiting on your every move, I must admit it was a little scary. I glanced at the clock quickly noting that there was only an hour until Jean Pierre showed up and prayed that Devon would be back soon. I finished up with the two sisters and listened to them gab about their great new haircuts before ushering them toward the register. As I passed Tai, I asked him to clean up the two stations and he nodded to me, heading straight to work. I rang the two up, told them to have a nice day and was about to make my way over to the awaiting customer at my station when Tai called me over to him.

"What is it Tai?" He smiled to me deviously.

"I just wanted to let you know that you are really, really sexy when you work. Are those new pants you're wearing?" He spoke with his voice in a lower tone that forced me to gulp a little.

"Tai…don't do that. I have so much work to do." I bit my lip as he stared back at me seductively; I honestly could've jumped him and was about to make some sort of move when a voice cut through my thoughts.

"Um, excuse me? I would like to get my hair cut sometime soon?" I jolted in my place, pulling my gaze from Tai.

"Of course ma'am, I am sorry. I'll be right with you." I turned back to Tai a harmless glare on my face, "And I'll get to you later tonight." He winked at me and continued his sweeping as I walked to the next customer determined that Tai would not distract me again.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. Not only was Tai distracting to me in general but as more customers piled in and I had to give him more responsibility, things started going downhill. At first things were running smoothly; I was cutting people's hair one at a time, Tai would clean up as I handled the money and people would leave satisfied. At one point though, I turned and realized that Tai had seated one person to each station and they were each looking to me expectantly; immediately I decided that if Tai could wash his own mop of hair that he could wash other people's hair too. I pulled him aside to make sure that he was okay with his new job and, when he agreed, we escorted all three customers to the sinks. I quickly showed Tai the process as I washed the first customer's hair; fortunately it was a guy so it didn't take long before his hair was washed and ready. Deeming Tai all set, I walked the customer back to my station and started cutting. I was just finishing up but stopped when I heard Tai's female teenager customer complaining that he was hurting her. Quickly trimming the last few hairs and apologizing again, I ran across the salon.

"What seems to be the problem miss?" I spoke through gritted teeth and a fake smile as I stared wide-eyed at Tai's naïve expression.

"He was, like, rubbing my head way too hard. And he put WAY too much conditioner in; I can, like, feel my hair being weighed down." I resisted my urge to tell the customer that she was annoying and instead turned to her happily.

"I do apologize ma'am; Tai here is one of our newer stylists. I'm sure he's just a little nervous but don't worry, I'm going to take things from here." I smiled to her again before pulling Tai away from the sinks forcefully.

"I'm sorry Yama. I swear I was only pushing as hard as I do with my own head." I blinked at him a little dumbfounded but shook my head and put it aside.

"It's okay, just go over and dry that guy's hair while I finish up here." Tai nodded to me making his way to my customer and I turned back to the teenager still at the sinks. I rinsed her hair thoroughly, as to get out the extra conditioner, and led her to another station noticing the other customer waiting as well as her now rapidly drying hair. I sat the teenager and headed to the other woman. Fortunately she only needed me to style her hair for some event she was going to. I was just about to start on it when I heard someone cry out suddenly.

I was almost afraid to look but peered over to Tai and the male customer anyway…and came to find them both stomping on something on the ground. I stepped closer to get a better view and heard a crunching sound as Tai's foot connected with the flaming hair dryer on the ground. My eyes flew open and without thinking I ran for the fire extinguisher. Yelling to Tai and the customer to move, I ran wildly back to the flames and did my best to calmly put them out and not ruin the entire salon. Once the fire had ceased, I looked to Tai for explanation breathing heavily from the commotion.

"Um…funny story…some of his hair got caught in the blow dryer and it started making this weird noise. I tried to turn it off but something sparked and it burst into flames." Tai tried to smile to me but I just blinked and nodded my head contemplatively.

"Surprisingly, that's happened before." I turned to the customer who was staring just as shocked down at the blow dryer. I was happy to see that it didn't seem like his hair was damaged at all from the incident.

"I'm really sorry, this is all my fault. Are you okay?" Tai apologized to the guy but he turned on me instead. I did my best to make up for it.

"Sir, your haircut is on the house. And if you're not satisfied, I can redo it free of charge as well." He merely nodded to me.

"Thanks…I think I'm okay. I'm just going to leave." And with that, he walked out. Sighing heavily, I turned to Tai who was staring at me apologetically. Before he could speak, I put my hand up.

"It's all right but from now on, your jobs are to clean and handle customers as they come in the salon, starting with this." He nodded to me and got to work cleaning up the fire extinguisher mess on the floor. Without another word, I made my way back to the other two waiting customers. I styled the first woman's hair silently and she didn't interrupt seeing obviously that I was busy. Once she had finished paying, I apologized again to the other customer still sitting in the waiting room but she only shrugged at me.

"Um hello? My hair is totally drying back here!" Completely drained, I made my way back to the irate teenager and soaked her hair again. I focused all my energy into her haircut and barely heard the front door to the salon open again.

"I got it, no worries." I heard Tai call back to me but I didn't miss a beat with the teenager's haircut…that is…until I heard noise coming from the front part of the salon. I gathered the next bunch of hair in my hand, preparing to cut it, and listened in on what was going on.

"I don't think that you know exactly who I am…"

"Sir, I don't really care who you are, you need to sign this clipboard and sit down to wait."

"I will not wait! Where is your supervisor? Where is Devon?"

"He's not here right now so you can't talk to him, sorry. Now, please sir, I can see that you are in desperate need of a new haircut so if you'll just sit down…"

"How dare you! No one insults Jean Pierre François!"

My eyes wide, I unconsciously brought my fingers together and closed the scissors, cutting a very defined and very unwanted diagonal line into my customer's hair. I felt her hair and the scissors slip from my fingers but all I could focus on what I had just heard.

"Where are you going?! Look what you've done to my hair!" I heard as she cried out in protest but before I could do anything else, my feet had carried me to the front of the salon. At seeing a familiar face, Jean Pierre huffed at me.

"What is going on here? Who is this bimbo? Where is Devon?" I fumbled to say anything, staring at him wide-eyed with my mouth hanging open like an idiot. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Tai's facial expression change as he realized what was going on and what he had just done; luckily for the both of us (though, not so much for him), Devon chose that moment to walk into the salon.

"Tai? What are you doing…" Devon stopped short at seeing my face and jumped when Jean-Pierre turned on him sharply. "Jean Pierre, you're early."

"I am the owner and I can arrive whenever I please; you are the one who is late!"

"Jean Pierre, I-."

"No excuses! It doesn't matter where you were, it matters that you were not here at all and that you will allow your employees to insult me!" Devon gulped as Jean Pierre closed the distance between them and glared at him.

"I will be back later to discuss with you the future of this business and your part in it, or lack thereof." With an individual glare to each of us, Jean Pierre walked out of the salon.

"So, who's going to fix my hair? Because I really don't like this style!" I didn't turn as the customer spoke from behind us; I only looked to Devon completely shocked. With an angry sigh, Devon looked beyond me to the teenager.

"I'll be right there miss." Her heels clicked on the floor as she walked back to her seat. Devon then focused in on me causing me to flinch. The look of disappointment on his face said it all but he opened his mouth to speak anyway.

"The _both_ of you can leave now."

He stormed off quickly, his actions complimenting the icy tone in his voice. I couldn't pull my gaze from the floor even as I felt Tai staring at me. Finally, I moved to grab my stuff, took off my apron and walked out of the salon, Tai trailing behind me. Once I was outside, I stopped, waiting for Tai to stand next to me. Taking a deep breath, I pursed my lips in deep thought and tried to control the many emotions that I was feeling.

"I'm sleeping on the couch tonight, aren't I?"

"Oh yeah."

Next to me Tai nodded before stepping into my view, forcing me to look at him, "I figured that much…okay, well, see you at home then. Love you."

"Love you too." We both exchanged a small kiss before Tai left my side to cross the street. I stared after him to make sure he got across safely before turning to go in the opposite direction. Even though I was mad at him, I couldn't ever not tell him that I loved him; there's just too much that could happen if I didn't. And so, I began walking towards the park where I knew I would spend the rest of my day thinking until I wasn't mad anymore or until I was starving, whichever came first.

--------------------------End Flashback--------------------------

Honestly, I know that even though everything was my responsibility, I wasn't completely to blame. I mean, I did the absolute best job that I could in my situation, right? Yes, Tai messed a few things up but he was only helping and really Devon shouldn't punish me for it because he wasn't there in the first place. As far as the whole Jean-Pierre thing, well, that was mostly Tai but he couldn't have known who it was that he was talking to especially considering that Jean-Pierre was early. I think that I have justified reasons to keep my job but that look of disappoint on Devon's face keeps flashing in front of me and I just know. Glancing up, I saw that I was approaching the salon and I took a few deep breaths to ready myself.

I pushed the front doors open…flinching and ready for the yelling…saw Devon walking toward me…and was suddenly engulfed in a massive hug. My eyes flew open at this and stared as Devon pulled away from me a big smile on his face.

"Huh?" It was literally all that I could get out; what in the hell was going on? Devon just kept smiling at me as I stared at him. Before too long, he began walking back to the cutting stations. He spoke back to me as he walked.

"So are you ready to work or not? We'll have customers coming in soon." My eyes could've bugged out of my head. A little frustrated at this point, I quickly followed up behind him and grabbed his arm pulling him straight to the back "lounge" room.

"Oh, Matt, Tai won't be happy with us. Well, just this once I guess." I sighed aggravated.

"Devon!" He put his hands up defensively.

"What? You shoved me in here!" I rolled my eyes.

"In your dreams, now what is going on?"

"What do you mean? We're at work, it is a salon, remember? What's gotten into you?" I sighed; I had forgotten how completely idiotic Devon could be.

"Okay, Devon, yesterday you left me here by myself and Jean Pierre came in early and Tai insulted him and you told me to leave? Is this coming back to you? I thought I would be fired the instant I walked in. So what is going on?" He only smiled at me more, fueling my frustration with him. Before I could fly off the handle again, he nodded to me and sat me down on one of the chairs.

"Matt, you're not fired, okay?" He paused to let me soak it in and I just waited for the explanation.

"Look, I finished up everything here and met up with Jean Pierre later. He insulted me, ridiculed me, called me a horrible stylist and all the usual crap he does but then, he started attacking you." At this I furrowed my brow at Devon but still waited for him to continue.

"I don't know what came over me, but the second he started insulting you and your skills, something snapped. I just started yelling right back at him and defending you. Finally, he huffed and told me that if I was going to disrespect him like that then he wasn't going to pay for the salon anymore." I blinked.

"But Devon, if Jean-Pierre isn't paying for anything then we're all screwed." I started freaking out but Devon just shook his head at me.

"Matt, you're not getting the point. Needing to stick up for you gave me the courage to stand up to him. Now, I own the salon." I blinked in amazement at him but a thought struck me.

" Isn't that going to be expensive?" Again, Devon smiled at me.

"Well, it'll take a toll on everyone for a short while but I doubt we'll be hurting for too long…especially with you as my new head stylist and all the business you'll be bringing in!" My hand instantly flew to my mouth at this; I could've screamed. Devon just looked at me excitedly holding his arms out. I was instantly pulled into another bear hug.

"Thank you Devon! I can't believe this…I really thought that today was my last day at the salon." He gave me a face.

"Whatever, you're not going anywhere. Now, where were we earlier?" He tried to saunter up next to me again but I rolled my eyes and pushed him away.

"Sorry Devon, I have a lot of work to do." I literally skipped from the back room to grab my black apron and prep my station. Once that was done, I walked to the front ready to receive my first customer as head stylist of the salon. However, instead of finding an awaiting person, I was greeted by a colossal bouquet of flowers. I blinked rapidly searching for the owner of said flowers and smiled as I saw a big bushel of chocolate brown hair. When Tai spotted me, his eyes lit up.

"You're here!"

"Yes Tai, but what are you doing here? What's the occasion?" I relieved him of the immense bouquet and leaned in for a quick kiss.

"I was actually coming down here to beg Devon to let you have your job back…I brought the flowers just in case it didn't work and you needed cheering up." He smiled and looked me up and down. "It seems though that you've already got your job back."

"Better than that," We heard Devon's voice as he strolled up to the front of store, casually wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "He's my new head stylist. Oh, flowers for me? You shouldn't have!"

Before I could say otherwise, Devon stole my flowers from me. I would've chased after him but Tai grabbed my hands in excitement.

"So you got promoted? I'm so proud of you Yama!"

"Aw, thank you Tai-chan. I honestly could not have done this without you." Tai wrinkled his nose and tilted his head at me.

"But I broke things and lit people on fire and insulted your boss…how did that help?" I chuckled and looked to Tai, shaking my head.

"I'll explain later."

He nodded to me and spoke again, "So, does this mean that I can rejoin you in our bed tonight?" I couldn't help but smile.

"You're damn right it does. But you, you're skipping out on work! You'd better get going, go be manly and build things." I smiled teasingly at him and he rolled his eyes at me before giving me another quick kiss and running out of the salon. I stared after him until I couldn't see him anymore with one thought on my mind.

"God, I love him…"

-End

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Sorry if it seemed really rushed. I kind of went for that though because Matt had t run around so much, you know? Thanks for reading! Please review! Even one word reviews mean something to me. :-) Not that I'm begging or anything. 


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